UCAIR & CHEVRON ISSUE $45K CLEAN AIR INNOVATION CONTEST

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah September 9, 2016 – Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR) and Chevron announced today their Bright Skies – Utah Clean Air Innovation Contest. The contest will offer $45,000 in cash awards to winning innovators and entrepreneurs whose solutions make an immediate impact on improving Utah’s air quality.

The contest is open to all Utah innovators, entrepreneurs, businesses and non-profits that develop innovations that immediately make some improvement on Utah air quality. This includes such innovations as those that might reduce industrial or auto emissions, apps that get people involved in improving air quality, or other new technical developments. The entries must demonstrate a measurable difference on air quality and preference will be given to those currently in use or which can be implemented in the immediate future.

“Utah’s air quality is a concern to everyone,” said Ted Wilson, Executive Director of UCAIR. “We all share in the challenge to improve air quality and we are doing a lot of good things that are making a real difference. However, our Bright Skies contest is a way to reach out to the broader community and invite them to help find solutions that will have an even greater impact.”

Community partner and contest co-sponsor Chevron expressed similar feelings. “We are excited to offer this opportunity to the thinkers and doers in our state to apply their skills and knowledge to air quality improvement,” said Mikal Byrd, Policy, Government, and Public Affairs Representative at Chevron’s Salt Lake Refinery. “We are confident that the Bright Skies contest will be an excellent platform for innovators to present their ideas that will improve air quality.”

The contest is the first of its kind within Utah and possibly across the country. It will be managed by Grow Utah, a privately funded non-profit organization, and built upon the success of dozens of other innovation contests they have held throughout Utah. “We have our finger on the pulse of Utah’s innovation and entrepreneurial community,” said T. Craig Bott, President of Grow Utah. “We work with them all the time in their various ventures and businesses. We are excited to lay down this challenge for them to step up and bring their creative talents and abilities to help solve the real issue of improving air quality in our state. We believe they can make a real difference.”

Applications to the contest, co-sponsored by Zions Bank and the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, can be submitted now through November 2nd. Selected finalists will present their innovations at a public event held on November 16. At the conclusion of that event, the winners will be announced and the cash prizes awarded.

“It’s a win all around,” concluded Ted Wilson of UCAIR. “We win when new capable people pick up the challenge to improve air quality. We win when our younger generation feels their innovations and ideas are welcome. And we of course win when we find new and innovative solutions for improving air quality. That’s what the Bright Skies Contest Innovation Contest is about- a win for us all.”

For more information on the Bright Skies Utah Clean Air Innovation Contest, and to apply, visit www.ucair.org.

About UCAIR

UCAIR is a statewide clean air partnership created to make it easier for individuals, businesses and communities to make small changes to improve Utah’s air. Every small change adds to a collective bigger step toward better health, a better economy and better overall quality of life for all of us. For more information, visit www.ucair.org

About Chevron

Chevron is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies. Through its subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide, the company is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells petrochemicals and additives; generates power and produces geothermal energy; and develops and deploys technologies that enhance business value in every aspect of the company’s operations. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

About Grow Utah

Grow Utah, is a privately funded non-profit organization dedicated to accelerate the creation of innovative, entrepreneur-led, high-growth businesses that will strengthen and expand the future growth of Utah’s economy.

The vision of Grow Utah is to create a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem in Utah that fosters entrepreneurial talent, drives innovation to solve market needs, aligns community resources and support, and ensures funding for products, entrepreneurs and businesses of promise. Learn more at www.GrowUtah.com.

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Media Interviews

The following are available for media interviews: Ted Wilson- UCAIR, Mikal Byrd- Chevron, and T. Craig Bott- Grow Utah.